Play Mafia With Us - About JAR Mafia Games & How To Play

Games JAR Mafia Games
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What Happens In Mafia, Stays In Mafia

(Where we - virtually - murder each other in the nicest way possible)

Game Runner (GR) + Spectator Etiquette
  1. Don’t start a game without first claiming it in Game Themes & Claims.
  2. Don’t start a game while one is already running.
  3. Running a game takes commitment, if you decide to run a game you must keep it going at a reasonable pace (hours/days, not weeks, between phases).
  4. Spectators may post only during the game Night phase in game threads and only for social chat.
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How To Play Mafia: The Basics

If you’ve never played before this guide is designed to give you a quick overview of how mafia games work on JAR.

Set Up

Games are *themed around popular tv shows or movies.
The game of Mafia is based on an imaginary town that consists of at least two opposing factions: one hero team, and one villain team - aka ‘the Mafia’.

  • All members of Team Hero are informed only of their own identity; they have no idea what role any other players may have or who is who (unless part of a Mason Pair; a secret two person team among the Heroes).
  • The Villain team has the advantage of knowing each other’s identities and being able to talk to each other in a private group from the outset.
  • Team Hero starts the game with twice the numbers of Team Villain. For example, in a 12-player game, you might expect there to be 8 Heroes and 4 Villains.
Team Objectives
  1. To win, Team Hero must eliminate all the members of Team Villain.
  2. To win, Team Villain must eliminate enough members of Team Hero so that Team Hero does not have enough votes to eliminate a Villain during the Day phase of a game.
Play

The game runner (GR) creates a new game thread and announces sign ups for the upcoming game and members may add their name to the list until closed by the GR.
Next, all players receive a DM detailing their character, abilities and alignment (Hero/Villain/Neutral) in the game, then confirm they have received and understood their DM in the game thread (without disclosing any details).
Play officially begins once the Day 1 story is posted. No discussion is permitted outside of the game thread unless a player have been given explicit permission in their DM by the GR(s).

Each game cycle consists of 3 phases; Day, which lasts 36hrs, Twilight, which lasts a minimum of 12hrs, and Night, which lasts 24hrs.

  • At the start of each cycle (the Day phase) a story is posted which may or may not contain one or more clues to a Villain player’s identity. During Day, players discuss possible clues and decide whether or not to start or join an elimination vote, a minimum of 50% (+1) of players voting is required to complete an elimination. Days last 36hrs or until an elimination is completed, whichever comes first.
  • This is followed by Twilight. Each Twilight starts with a 12hr ‘action’ window during which, a player with a Twilight ability (as per their DM) must submit, via their original DM from the GR, their chosen ability actions before the deadline ends. During Twilight, gameplay discussion can continue but no elimination votes can be altered once Day has ended. Twilight continues until the Night story is posted.
  • Night lasts 24hrs, during which the Villain team are able to submit an elimination order (EO) on one player who’s not on their team. A player with a Night action (as per their DM), must submit their chosen action via their original DM to the GR before the 24hr deadline ends. No gameplay discussion is permitted in the game thread during Night. It is only during the Night phase that any eliminated players are able to join in with non-game related chat and have a drink at the virtual bar. Night then continues until the next Day story is posted.

This cycle repeats until either

  1. Team Hero has eliminated all those who oppose them
    or
  2. Team Villain has eliminated enough Heroes and/or Neutrals to ensure that a Villain couldn’t either be eliminated in a vote during Day, or targeted for elimination during Night by a Hero/Neutral aligned player with such an ability.

For more detailed rules, see the mafia rules topic.

Note: variations may apply from game to game and if applicable, will be announced before the start of play by the GR.

*See Game Themes & Claims